


Should I Be Wanting?

by IBoatedHere



Category: Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Pining, Slow Burn, Undercover as a Couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-07-11 22:00:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7072156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IBoatedHere/pseuds/IBoatedHere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They’re married, they’re in love, this is how they’re supposed to be.<br/>Only the first part is a lie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Should I Be Wanting?

“The grass is getting long. I should probably cut it today.”

“Mmmhmm.”

“I think the pool will probably be clean enough to use by the end of the week.”

“Okay.”

“Do you wanna make dinner or go out or order in tonight?”

“Sure.”

Caleb rests his hip against the counter and swings the spatial in his hand. Ben hasn't looked up  
from his tablet or coffee cup since he sat down. 

“I think you should stop sleeping in the guest room. You should sleep with me. We should consummate this fake marriage once and for all. All night long. Loudly. So no one will ever question it.”

“Sounds great,” Ben mumbles as he scrolls through an article. Then his eyes widen and the tablet slips from his hands and lands screen down on the counter. “Wait, what? Caleb, what?” 

Caleb smiles and scoops scrambled eggs onto Ben's plate even though he knows he's not going to eat it. He never does. 

“I knew you weren't listening.”

“I was. Lawn, pool, dinner, and then…” He waves his hand toward Caleb and Caleb smirks, delighted that he can't even say it. “Sorry but there was another security breach last night. We've been here for two months and we have nothing on Arnold. He's pulling this off right beneath our nose. I don't know how much longer Washington and Sackett are going to let this go on. They're going to pull us out and put us someone new in because we can't get the job done.”

“Arnold's been doing this for awhile. It's going to take sometime to catch him on it. He's got to slip up at some point.”

“Yeah but will we be here when he does or will it be Abe and Rob or Mary and Anna?”

“I hope it's Mary and Anna.”

“Me too,” Ben says quietly as he twists the ring on his left hand. 

Neither of them blinked an eye when Sackett told them they'd be going undercover.

They walked out of the meeting with the keys to a new Subaru and a cape style house with 1.25 acres of land at the end of a cul-de-sac in the suburbs, two silver wedding bands and their cover stories. 

They're Ben and Caleb Brewster. Newlyweds. Met while Ben was still at Yale and Caleb was stationed in New Haven with the Coast Guard. 

Now Ben works in insurance, a job vanilla enough not to ask follow up questions and give him a cover to drive into the city everyday to meet with Sackett. 

Caleb's retired from the Coast Guard, suffered an injury on the job and it's honorable enough that no one questions him about it. His cover is that he helps run a nonprofit from home to aid wounded veterans. 

Really runs constant technical surveillance on Arnold's laptop and phone and works to gain the trust of their neighbors to see if they can get any extra information on him. 

Caleb's very good at what he does. He's read all of Arnold's emails from the past decade along with every word document and file on his computer. They've had dinner with every neighbor. 

They're a popular and beloved couple.

They have an ideal life.

They are failing this mission. 

They know nothing more now than they did when they started. 

******

This is what they know:

Benedict Arnold has been working for the State Department for 25 years.  
-He’s been passed up for four different promotions in the past sixteen months.  
-All of the promotions went to people who were younger than Arnold.  
-He was forcibly removed from a dinner with the president last April and was put on a six month suspension. With pay.  
-The timeline of him going back to work coincided with bases in Faiyum, Turin, and Opole being raided.  
-Bases that no one is supposed to know about.  
-Bases that Ben didn’t even know about until Sackett told him.  
-Ten bases in total around the globe have been raided. Weapons are missing. Money is missing.  
-Two bases have been hit since Ben and Caleb started this assignment.  
-There are grainy surveillance photos of the same man in every city that gets raided.  
-Intelligence has identified him as John Andre- used to work for British intelligence, currently unaffiliated with any government agency.  
-There is a clear AP photo of Andre, Arnold, and Arnold’s wife, Peggy, standing together in outside of an event in Philadelphia.  
\--t’s the only piece of evidence they have connecting Arnold to Andre. 

They also know:  
-He’s fifteen years older than his wife.  
-Margaret Arnold, known professionally as Peggy Shippen, runs a highly successful boutique that just went public last year.  
- _“I know her. I know of her.”_ Anna had said when Sackett brought up the assignment. She picked at the blouse she was wearing. _“This is hers. It’s great, right? I’m so jealous you’ll be living next door. --Get her autograph for me?”_ Sackett had answered that with a hard no.  
-Peggy and Benedict have been married for two years.  
-It is not a happy marriage.  
-It is not a secret. 

This is what they don't know.  
-Everything else. 

 

******

Ben’s frustrated.

Over everything.

How many more dinner parties do they need to attend? 

How many times do they need to sit with Peggy and Benedict and pretend to laugh at his jokes and ignore the way Peggy sips her wine and rolls her eyes at him?

How many of the same questions about how they met and who fell in love first and who proposed to who do they need to answer? 

Ben’s tired of it.

Caleb seems to love it and that’s frustrating too.

Caleb is an A+ neighbor. Warm and funny and friendly with just the right amount of sarcasm. 

If Caleb can’t get information out of these people Ben’s not sure there’s any to get. But that’s unacceptable and he hears it from Sackett every time he shows up at the office empty handed. 

Caleb brushes it off when Ben tells him about it. He says they need more time but Ben can’t seem to make him understand that time is not something they have. Things are falling apart overseas and it’s only a matter of time before it washes up on their shore. 

Caleb wave his hand and continues making dinner like nothing’s wrong. 

He has slipped so easily into this with his arm around Ben’s shoulder as they sit in a neighbor's living room or his hand at his waist as they walk up their driveway with a tupperware full of potato salad that they were forced to take home.

He holds Ben’s hand when they walk down the street. Tells him he loves him in front of a crowd, all offhanded and distracted when he asks Ben to run into the house and get him a new pair of tongs for the grill because the ones he’s been using have fallen to the ground. 

Thank you, love you.

Then they get ready for bed and it doesn’t seem to bother him at all that Ben sleeps in the guest bedroom while he sleeps in the master.

Ben doesn’t want to be taken off this assignment but the fact that that last bit bothers him the most means that maybe he needs to be. 

*****

“You’re not doing enough,” Sackett tells him and there’s a sharp edge to his voice that’s not usually there. Discomfort settles into the room. Anna shifts in her seat. Abe pretends to read something on her phone. 

“I don’t know what else you want us to do. If you have any suggestions I’m open to them.”

“I suggest, Agent Tallmadge,” Washington says coldly and all the movement in the room stops. “You figure something out on your own. Don’t count on us to tell you how to do your job. This is your assignment. It’s far from your first. If you need someone to hold your hand I suggest you being to look into working for a different department.”

“Sir.”

“You’re dismissed.”

******

Ben gets stuck in traffic on the ride home and by the time he pulls into the driveway he’s looking for a fight. 

“Honey, you’re home,” Caleb calls from where he’s standing at the stove. It smells like stir-fry and  
Ben doesn’t care what they eat or where but Caleb did present him with three options this morning and Caleb just decided on his own and it upsets him more than it should. “Can you remind me later to look up how to prune a tree because there’s an apple tree out there that I think we could be getting fruit from. It might be too late to do it though. I could call my uncle but you know…..”

Ben doesn’t say anything as he slides the files from New Delhi and Hong Kong across the kitchen island. 

“They were hit last night,” he tells him as Caleb flips through. “Two million dollars worth of weapons gone without a trace, no survivors, and you’re talking about an apple tree.”

“It’s not like I knew about this.”

“No, because you get to stay here all day doing whatever you want while I have to face Sackett and Washington.”

“I didn’t assign myself to this position, Ben. I wasn’t the one that decided that I would stay home but I am the one that knows how to get behind Arnold’s protection software.”

“But you have nothing to show for it.”

“How can I show you something that’s not there?”

“It has to be there. He’s not doing this telepathically.”

“If you want to take a look be my guess but I really wish my partner wouldn’t think he had to double check my work. I’ve been doing this just as long as you have, Ben. I’ve got the same training and the same awards as you. You’re not any better than me.”

“Then why does it feel like I’m the only one that cares about this?” He recollects the files and heads for the stairs.

Caleb groans and says “You are such an uptight asshole sometimes,” and then adds “I’m so sorry for the guy you actually get to marry you.”

Ben gets both feet on the landing before he answers with “me too.”

******

Ben doesn't know Caleb's in the room until there's a steaming mug placed in front of him. 

“It's tea, not coffee. Figured you've had enough of that since that's all I've seen you eat or drink since we got here. It's the Sleepy Time stuff too so there’s no caffeine. I couldn't find the Tension Tamer.”

“Thank you, Caleb.” He taps his fingers along the rim as Caleb leans on the side of the desk with his arms crossed. “I think I owe you an apology.”

“Ah, yes you do.”

Ben raises his eyebrows as he takes a sip. It's heavy on honey and lemon and burns his tongue. 

“I know you're doing work here.”

“Do you?”

“Yes. Just because you can't write it down on paper doesn't mean it's not there. You've created so many ties here for us. You have an answer for every question they throw at us. You never miss a step. It's something I can't do. You've made everyone here trust us. I can never thank you enough for that. I let the stress get the better of me. I'm sorry. How was that?”

“You mean it?”

“Yes.”

Caleb narrows his eyes then the corner is his lips quirk up and Ben knows he's forgiven. 

“I'm sorry about what I said about the guy that marries you. I was mad. I didn't mean it.” 

“Don't apologize. You're right. I mean if it even happens. Sometimes I'm an asshole, especially about work and work is pretty much all I have so….”

“You can have both of you want it.”

“Wouldn't be fair. I can't even tell my dad what I do. I can't keep a secret like that in a marriage,” he shrugs. “This is probably as close as I'm going to get to the real thing so I should start enjoying it.” He laughs and smiles but it doesn't reach his eyes. 

“Drink your tea and go to sleep.” Then he leans in and kisses his forehead. 

“You don't have to do that, you know. No one can see us.”

“I know.” 

******

Ben skips his morning run. 

He sleeps late and when Caleb comes down the stairs Ben is taking the last of the pancakes off the griddle. 

******

Ben watches Arnold’s car pull out of the driveway then gives it ten more minutes before he walks to the Subaru with his thermos of coffee. 

Caleb waves goodbye to him from the front porch and then a few minutes later waves goodbye to Peggy as she gets in her bright red Prius and pulls down the drive.

He puts the dishes in the dishwasher the way that he likes (Ben just throws them in and they never get quite clean enough), takes a shower, gets dressed, skims a few leaves off the top of the pool, then casually hops the fence between their property and the Arnold's, shimmies a back window open, disengages the alarm before it goes off, and begins to snoop. 

He gives Ben a call from their kitchen on his secure work phone. 

It’s the one where Ben’s name is just a string of ID numbers and not the Iphone where his number is filed under Husband followed by seven heart emojis. 

Ben answers on the first ring with a tense “what’s wrong?”

Caleb hops onto the counter and swings his legs. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Why are you calling me here? On this phone?”

“Work related.”

“Caleb.”

“I’m fine, I swear it. I’d say our code word but I don’t remember what it is.”

“It’s Delaware.”

“Well Delaware, Delaware, Delaware. Everything’s fine.” 

“Did you find something?”

“No, actually, that’s why I’m calling. I’ve combed through every inch of this house and can’t find anything on this guy. I know we’re missing something, we have to be, but there aren’t any false walls or hollowed out books and I’ve been through that desktop computer backwards and forwards and there is nothing there. I know it’s him but it’s just like….not.”

“House.” Ben says the word clearly and slowly and Caleb hops down from the counter.

“Yeah.”

He hears a chair scrape across the floor and Ben clears his throat, a nervous tic. “Where are you right now?”

“I’m in their kitchen.”

“Get out of there, right now.”

“I’m fine. They’re both at work, they’ll be gone all day, they don’t have any kind of surveillance except for that weak ass alarm which I bypassed first thing, no one saw me go in and even if they did I’d say I heard a noise coming from inside and decided to check it out. They’d all believe me.”

He hears a car engine turn over.

“Where are you right now?”

“I’m coming to get you.”

“You are so dramatic,” he says under his breath as he swings the refrigerator open. “You’re forty minutes away. Do you think you can stop on your way home tonight and pick up strawberries. I bet she goes to The Farmers Market to get these. We should go to the Farmers Market.”

“Are you looking in their fridge?”

“Yup. I think I’m going to make strawberry shortcake later. I have the heavy cream so I just need the- huh. Peggy just drove in.”

“Get. Out. Of. There. Do you still have the fridge open?”

“I'm closing it. I bet she forgot her laptop. It's on the counter.”

“Get the hell out Caleb.” 

“Okay I'm going. I just have to reset the alarm.”

“Caleb.” 

Ben is in agony.

“Kay, all set. I have to hang up because I have to hop the fence. Remember strawberries. Love you.” 

He hangs up and Ben doesn't dwell on the love you. They've said it so much to each other these past few months it's almost like it's lost all meaning. 

******

Caleb’s on the front porch talking to Suzanne and Linda, two of their neighbors. They’re laughing like they’re a little tipsy. 

Ben gets two feet on the steps and says “I forgot the strawberries.”

There is a pause and then the three of them are laughing and Ben feels like he's on the outside of an inside joke and hates it. He hates being left out of information. 

“I knew you would. After we spoke I ran to the store. There's a bowl of shortcake for you in the fridge. Dinners still warm in the oven if you want to start with that. Am I the best husband you've ever had?”

“So far,” Ben says as he leans down to kiss his cheek. The women laugh again but this they're the ones on the outside. “I have a lot to talk to you about,” Ben whispers in his ear after the kiss. When he straightens he says “I'm going to go in and change.”

“Or you could sit out here with us for a bit,” Caleb tells him and Ben doesn't know what he's getting at. “It's a nice night for it.” 

Ben cocks his head. He doesn't know what Caleb's getting at. Suzanne and Linda have already told them everything they know, which isn't a lot. 

“I should really change. Get out of this before it wrinkles.”

“Gary rolls his suit in a ball and dumps it in the laundry,” Linda comments. 

“I couldn't get Brian in a suit if I paid him,” Linda says.

“Ah, my Benny love them.” Caleb reaches for Ben's hand. It's cool and damp from the condensation on the glass he's been holding. “But I don't really blame him. If I looked that good in them I'd never take them off.”

“Amen,” Linda says and Suzanne elbows her and the three of them laugh. 

“I'm gonna go change.” Ben slowly slips his hand from Caleb's and gets in the house before they can see how hard he's blushing. 

There is shortcake in the fridge and dinner in the oven. He drags his finger through the whipped cream on the shortcake, licks it off, then heads upstairs. 

He takes off his jacket and puts it back on the hanger then folds his pants and calls Gary a heathen under his breath. 

He pulls on a pair of running shorts and a tee that's too tight along the shoulders and probably belongs to Caleb and got misplaced when he did the laundry. He laces up his cross trainers and sits on the edge of the bed waiting for Caleb. 

And he waits. 

And waits. 

And waits some more. 

There's no screen door closing or footsteps up the stairs. Just the sound of him and their neighbors chatting on the front porch. 

He goes over the documents Sackett had given him then lies back on the bed with his hands folded over his chest and tries not to fall asleep. 

Finally he hears the women say goodbye and tell Caleb to tell Ben to they said goodbye and Ben rolls his eyes at the politeness of it all. 

He waits some more and after 20 minutes he pushes himself up, locks the paperwork in the safe in the closet (Caleb calls him paranoid because of it) and goes back downstairs. Caleb’s still sitting on the swing with a half full glass in his hand. 

“I was waiting for you. We need to talk.”

“You can talk to me out here.”

“I'd feel more comfortable if we spoke inside.”

“No one can hear us out here, Ben.” He pats the space next to him and Ben huffs out a breath and sits on the far side. Caleb scoffs. “They can’t hear us but they can see us so why don't you move a little closer-” he tugs him over with his hand around his wrist until they’re pressed right against each other “-and pretend like you like me. Do you want a drink?” 

“Is that sangria?” 

“Yes, Linda made it.”

“And you drank it?”

“I deserved it.” He drapes his arm across the back of the swing and Ben shifts his shoulders so he's closer to him. Caleb picks at the fabric of the shirt, recognizing it as his own, but doesn’t say anything about it. “Cleaned the pool, did the laundry, broke into Arnold's house. Learned nothing.” 

“The last bit is basically how my day went. Got a list of the weapons they think were sold. It’s in the safe upstairs. Who knows what secrets are out there now. They don’t know anything but they want us to know it all.”

“How much more do they want us to do?”

“I don’t know but they’re not happy.”

“Well you can tell them to join the fucking club.”

That startles a laugh out of Ben and Caleb squeezes his knee. 

“Anna and Mary are headed to Tetovo, Abe and Rob to Warri, and Abigail to San Carlos?”

“Why?”

Ben shrugs. “The last few places that haven’t been hit.”

“What have the casualties been like?”

“High.”

“They can’t send anyone else?”

“We’re spread so thin, especially with us being here. If we don’t find something out soon we’ll be sent somewhere too.”

“Shit.”

“I know. Seems unfair doesn’t it? They’re all on planes right now ready to fight and we’re sitting here and our biggest problems are if the pool will be ready for the 4th and whether or not I remember to bring home strawberries.”

“We didn’t ask for this mission, Ben.”

“I know.”

“And the pool is ready now so don’t worry about that.”

“One less thing I guess. I can’t believe people live like like this. Those are their big worries in life. Then they make sangria and sit on a porch and talk about them.”

“It’s nice,” Caleb muses. Ben snuggles closer as Mrs. Everts from across the street comes out to water her daffodils. She waves, they wave back, and Caleb holds him tighter. 

“You like it here?”

“No one has shot a me in three months. I sleep in the same bed every night. There’s air conditioning. I get to spend all this time with my best friend. It’s not so bad.”

Ben hums and worries Caleb’s getting too comfortable but he’s the one with head on Caleb’s chest and Caleb’s hand scratching through the hair at the back of his neck. 

“Do you think this will be how it is after this is all over? You know, retirement?”

“I haven’t thought about it.”

“Of course you haven’t because you plan on doing this job until the day you die, may that be decades and decades from now. Please.”

Ben tips his head so he can look up at him. “You want it to be like this?”

Caleb nods. “Exactly like this,” he says and something shifts around in the back of Ben’s chest. It’s the same feeling he got when Caleb called him from Arnold’s house or when he’s the first to go into an unsecured building with his gun up and Ben has to follow in his footsteps. It’s wanting to protect something that he just can’t. Wanting to have something that he’s not allowed. 

He stands in one fluid movement and Caleb’s hand slips from his hair.

“I’m going for a run,” he says as he stretches his arms above his head. 

“It’s so late.”

“There are street lights.”

“Did you even have dinner?”

“I’ll have it when I come back.”

Caleb raises one eyebrow at him and Ben laughs.

“Jeeze, mom, I promise.”

“Don’t joke about that, Linda and Suzanne spent the first twenty minutes grilling me on when we’re having kids.”

He comes back an hour later to an empty house. The glasses are cleaned and upside down in the drying rack. He steps up to the kitchen window just in time to see Caleb ease himself into the pool. 

“You know you really shouldn’t be swimming after you’ve been drinking. Especially if you’re alone. And you shouldn’t have glass this close to the pool,” he says as he picks up a mostly empty beer bottle. 

Caleb shakes his head and flicks his hair off his face. “Now who’s the mom? And I’m not alone now. C’mon in.” He splashes some water at him and Ben’s just quick enough to dodge it. It colors the concrete next to him dark gray. “Cool down.”

Ben can see how that would play out. He’s made a career at predicting how things will go down and how to stop them. How to make them play in his favor.

Ben will get in the pool and Caleb’s eyes will light up. He’ll be able to see it even though the light from the pack desk doesn’t quite extend this far. He’ll just know. 

He’ll tell Caleb to stay away from him, because he knows that look, and Caleb won’t listen. Instead he’ll throw himself at Ben full force and they’ll take turns holding each other’s heads under the water for a bit before they both stand up breathless and tired and so happy they feel like they’ll burst. 

Nothing will be said but it’ll be Caleb’s back up against the side of the pool with his chin tilted up to meet Ben’s lips. 

He knows Caleb can see it too.

“I think I’ll go take a shower then eat.”

Caleb pushes himself back from the edge. “If you’re sure.”

From the guest bathroom upstairs he watches Caleb float aimlessly before he pulls himself up onto the edge and look down at the wedding band on his finger. 

******

On the 4th of July Caleb eats four hot dogs and rests his head against Ben's shoulder complaining about a stomachache until the kids persuade both of them to throw the football around. 

They do not adhere to Ben's strict no tackling rule and by the end Ben has grass stains all over his J.Crew shorts and Caleb waits for his mouth to set in that thin, annoyed line but he just bounces up to him with the football tucked under his arm, a huge smile on his face, and a strip of red right down his nose that Caleb can't help but trace with his fingertip. 

“Sunburn,” he explains at Ben’s confused look. “I have aloe at home.”

Someone sets off a firework way too early a few streets over and the adults all share a disapproving look and the kids take off towards the street like they’re going to see something. 

Ben reaches for Caleb’s hand. 

*****

At the same time 5,500 miles away Rob and Abe successfully oversee a counterattack on a small warehouse. 

Everyone involved is either captured alive or killed.

John Andre’s body is identified using dental records and fingerprints from his file from his work with the British. 

******

“He doesn't even look like he cares. His contact is dead.”

They watch Benedict try to start up his grill in the Arnold’s back yard while people mingle around them.

Ben and Caleb are on the edge of the patio lit by Christmas lights artfully hung from the pergola. 

“Maybe he doesn’t know. It’s only been three days.”

“Three days for someone to tell him.”

“No calls have come in. It’s possible Andre was the only one he spoke to. Even if he wasn’t everyone that went in on that raid is either captured or dead. I doubt anyone outside of Andres close circle knew his name, if anyone did at all.”

Arnold’s got the grill going now. He burns his finger on one of the grates and shakes his hand then looks around to make sure no one saw. 

“Shouldn’t he have at least heard if it was a success or a failure? I don’t like it. He’s emotional. He should be having some kind of reaction.”

Caleb chews on his lip. When it slides free from his teeth it's deep red with indentations. Ben states. 

“Maybe he’s not because it's not him.”

“Of course it's him. His name is all over it. We just can't find anything on him in his possession that ties him to it. All we need is one email. How can you say it's not him?”

“It's not him because it's her. It's Peggy.”

“What?” 

“Peggy. Think about it. Look at him.” Caleb nods to Arnold who is trying and failing to put a fire out on the grill. He ends up burning his hand on the lid before he gets it closed then acts like nothing has happened. “You think he's smart enough to do all that? No way. But Peggy is and I don't mean to sound like a sexist asshole but do you think anyone is going to take her seriously? She's the size of a thimble. She uses his name, maybe she even uses him but he is not the brains behind this. We haven't looked at her at all. I bet one sweep of her computer and we'd find all we need. Jesus, it was right there on the counter that day. I didn’t think twice about it. No wonder she came back for it. Arnold is upset with his career path and Washington and the government and he thinks everyone is out to get him. He probably vents to Peggy about it and after months of some serious pillow talk she’s tired of it and decides to do something about it so she gets in contact with Andre and sets the whole thing in motion. Maybe that’s why her business is so successful. It has to be to hide the money she gets. She doesn’t love Arnold but she can’t leave him because that’s where the information is. Why else would she still be with him? Look at her. She could have anyone else but she stays with him. Why else?”

“How did she meet Andre?”

“At that event in Philly. That photo.”

“They met one time.”

“Sometimes one time is all it takes.”

“You think they were having an affair?”

“They were probably having something. Peggy is very charming and from what I’ve hear so was Andre so put them together and it’s like a powder keg.” 

Ben runs over that in his head. It makes sense. It all adds up. He can't believe he didn't figure that out before. Caleb's a genius. 

Before he can say that to him, before he can even turn his head Caleb has his fingers around his jaw to tip Ben's mouth down to meet his own. 

It's a feather light touch and Ben barely had time to close his eyes before Caleb's pulling away. 

“Sorry,” he says. “Peggy was watching and you looked intense so….”

“Okay.” Ben blinks. Caleb is still so close to him. “Is she still watching?” 

Caleb glances away for a second and shakes his head. 

“Okay,” he says softly and they’re kissing again.

No one is paying them any attention. No one would. 

They’re married, they’re in love, this is how they’re supposed to be. 

Only the first part is a lie. 

“I want to take you home,” Ben says when they break apart and he doesn’t know what home he means. The cute one next door or Ben’s sparse apartment in the heart of the city where he has more weapons than silverware. Either will do.

“I know,” Caleb answers. His hand is on the side of Ben’s neck. “But you need to call Sackett.” 

Sackett tells them to extract her carefully and quietly. 

They follow her to the kitchen. 

“Peggy.”

“I’ll be right out, boys. I know you miss me.” She’s scrubbing a spot on the marble counter and doesn’t look up. 

Caleb steps closer. She’s a hundred pounds soaking wet and there’s no way she has a weapon on her but Ben itches to be in front of him just for some peace of mind. 

“Peggy,” he says again and she looks up with time with a blank expression.

She sighs and says “You can take off the wedding rings. The jig is up.”

Ben wants to ask what gave us away at the same time Caleb says “we can do this quietly.”

“I suppose that would be the best option.” She puts her hand on her hip and nods. 

“Does your husband know?”

“Not about all of it.”

Ben and Caleb share a dismayed look. He’s going to be a lot harder to bring in. 

“You might need to wait for backup for him,” Peggy says.

An unmarked car pulls into the driveway and flashes it’s lights. She cracks a small smile.

“You move very quickly. Can I speak to him?”

“Who?”

“You know who. Did he give up my name?”

“He didn’t,” Ben tells her and Caleb takes a deep breath and says “John Andre was killed in Warri, Nigeria three days ago. He didn’t give you up.”

She tries to keep her face neutral but her lip quivers and her eyes water and the hand over her mouth does little to muffle the sob. 

Ben takes a step forward on instinct alone. He doesn’t deal with crying women very often in his day to day life. He did have to inform the wife a fallen agent and he didn’t handle that very well. It was the first and last time. Caleb had told him ‘so you have a soft spot. It’s not a bad thing.’

But Peggy is not a widow. 

She knew what she was doing.

Still.

Caleb holds his hand out at his side, fingers extended, palm flat and facing Ben as a warning to stay where he is. Not to offer sympathy. 

“When I hadn’t heard from him I thought….” She ducks her head into both hands. “You’re sure it’s him?”

“Yes.”

There’s a knock on the door and Ben knows they won’t knock twice. 

“We really need to get going, Mrs. Arnold.”

“Please,” she says, face tracked with tears. “It’s Andre.”

******

Sackett shows up twenty minutes later and starts giving orders.

Shaky cell phone footage of FBI agents removing Arnold from the house plays on CNN. 

Local PD create a barrier and try to keep the crowds back. Ben doesn’t make eye contact with any of his former neighbors but he can feel the betrayal there. 

Twitter lights up with #FreePeggy. 

******

The craziness of the next few days pushes Caleb and Ben apart. They don’t have a moment alone together between making statements and briefings and meetings with the president to thank them for their service. 

It’s dusk when Ben is finally allowed to leave the office and he travels the familiar road back towards their make believe life where he knows Caleb is packing the rest of the equipment up. Sacketts in the living room reading over a paper and turning to yell at two young interns who just dropped a box of camera equipment. 

His eyes flick up to Ben when he clears his throat. 

“Ah, Agent Tallmadge, they finally let you leave.”

“There was a lot of paperwork.”

“I take it you did Brewster’s as well.”

“He’s never liked to so….”

Sackett smirks. “You know I am going to need that back, don’t you?” 

Ben stares blankly and Sackett nods towards his left hand. He still has the ring on his finger.

“Oh.” He springs to life and twists it off his finger then drops it into Sackett’s waiting hand. “I forgot. I got so used to wearing it.”

Sackett hums and his eyes don’t leave the page. “Same thing happened to Brewster, apparently. Haven’t gotten his back either.”

Ben’s hand feels heavy without the ring in a way that just doesn’t make sense.

“He’s upstairs by the way. I do believe he’s alone.”

“Oh.”

Sackett sighs, lowers the paper, and says “go.”

“Oh, okay.” 

Ben takes the stairs two at a time. 

He’s in the master bedroom standing over a box recounting the pieces of equipment. The look on his face tells Ben he thinks he’s missing a few.

“Sackett just had a couple of guys bring some stuff out. What you’re missing might be in there.”

“Maybe,” Caleb says. He looks around the room then shrugs and tapes the box shut. “It’ll show up eventually.” When he turns around he crosses his arms and says “hey.”

“Hi,” Ben says then flounders. “Sackett wants the ring back.” He holds up his bare hand. 

“Oh, sure. Makes sense.” He slides it off his finger and hands it over. “Guess that's that. It was fun wasn't it? In between the frustration and everything.”

“I wouldn't have wanted to be fake married to anyone else.” 

They smile at each other and it's painfully polite. It's not like them at all. They can't shake the awkwardness and right when Ben's thinking this was a big mistake words tumble out of his mouth. 

“Have dinner with me. Real dinner. Not going through the drive through because we’re too tired after getting off a an all night flight to do anything else. Let's go somewhere. Or we can get coffee if you think it's not too late. Anything really. Whatever you want. As long as you do it with me.” 

Caleb's ears tint red. “Coffee now? Dinner tomorrow if you want?”

“Yes. I want that.” 

They leave the box on the bed for Sackett's interns. 

Halfway down the stairs Ben takes Caleb's hand.


End file.
